Raith ( gd, ràth, "fort" or "fortified residence"), as an area of

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, once stretched from the lands of Little Raith (earlier Wester Raith), south of

Loch Gelly Loch Gelly (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Gheallaidh'') is a small loch in Fife, Scotland lying approximately 1.5 km to the south east of the town of Lochgelly Lochgelly ( ; gd, Loch Gheallaidh, IPA: �ɫ̪ɔxˈʝaɫ̪ai is a town in Fife, ...

, as far as

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

and the

Battle of Raith The Battle of Raith was the theory of E. W. B. Nicholson, librarian at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. He was aware of the poem Y Gododdin in the Book of Aneirin and was aware that no-one had identified the location "Catraeth". He parsed the name ...

was once theorised to have been fought here in 596 AD. Raith Hill, west of

Auchtertool Auchtertool (; gd, Uachdar Tuil) is a small village in Fife, Scotland. It is 4 miles west of Kirkcaldy. The name is from the Gaelic ''uachdar'', meaning ''upland'' or ''heights'' above the Tiel burn (from Gaelic ''tuil'' meaning ''torrent'').Tay ...

and immediately to the east of the

Mossmorran The Mossmorran Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) plant is part of the northern North Sea Brent oil and gas field system and is located on the outskirts of Cowdenbeath, Scotland. The Mossmorran facilities comprise two plants: the Fife NGL Plant operated ...

fractionation plant, may also be in reference to this wider area or may refer to an actual fort on this hill, distinct to the one naming the area. The name is found in Kirkcaldy's professional football team,

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

. This name was earlier borne by an entirely distinct team, probably named for the Little Raith colliery, east of

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...

, which merged with Cowdenbeath Rangers to form Cowdenbeath F. C. Raith House and the 19th-century folly Raith Tower sit on Cormie Hill to the west of Kirkcaldy and several parts of the town are built on land formerly of the Raith Estate.

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Gothi ...

remodelled the library and garden of Raith House in 1899. The modern housing estate bearing the Raith name dates from long after the origins of the football team.

References

External links

Historic_Environment_Scotland
:_Raith_Park_and_Beveridge_Park.html" ;"title="Historic Environment Scotland">Historic Environment Scotland
: Raith Park and Beveridge Park">Historic Environment Scotland">Historic Environment Scotland
: Raith Park and Beveridge Park
''History of the county of Fife: from the earliest period to the present time''
pp 150–155
''A Descriptive and Historical Gazetteer of the Counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan''
p62-63
New Statistical Account
under Parish of Abbotshall

self-published website containing quotes from various publications and historical documents, in regard to Raith House and its estate Geography of Fife Kirkcaldy Areas of Kirkcaldy Cowdenbeath {{Fife-geo-stub

See also

References

External links